


Hannah Winchester

by shortfurball20



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brother-Sister Relationships, Canon-Typical Violence, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Gen, Girls with Guns, Older Sibling Dean Winchester, Protective Dean Winchester, Season/Series 01, You think you know how this goes, Younger Sibling Sam Winchester, still babies, surprises in store
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-03
Updated: 2018-09-09
Packaged: 2019-07-06 17:58:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,999
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15891141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shortfurball20/pseuds/shortfurball20
Summary: John Winchester is gone. Missing. Hannah and her brother pick up their brother Sam from Stanford for a simple weekend hunt. But things are never easy for Hannah Winchester. Follow the Winchesters as they ride across the country in their 67’ Chevy Impala. Saving People. Hunting Things. The Family Business.





	1. 01x01 - Pilot

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Supernatural isn’t mine. Hannah Winchester, on the other hand, is purely from my imagination.
> 
> This is currently unedited, and will probably remain unedited for a while.
> 
> This chapter has 9,218 words.

Hannah couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment her life started to fall apart. Maybe it was when her mother had died burning on the ceiling. It could’ve been when her Dad had vanished on her and her older brother Dean. Or it could’ve been when said older brother decided to break into their little brother’s apartment at two in the morning so that they could kidnap him.

 

“He won’t be happy.” Hannah pointed out. “It’s late, he’ll be asleep.” She wished _she_ was asleep. Currently, she was running on coffee and other energy drinks and was about to crash. She had tried taking a nap, but Dean’s car was too uncomfortable. Not that Hannah would ever tell him that. The Impala was his most prized possession. He even called it ‘Baby’, much to Hannah’s amusement.

 

Dean shrugged. He pulled out his knife and started picking the window lock. “Gotta keep him on his toes.” He slowly slid the window open and slipped in. Hannah followed, a grin on her face.

 

Instantly, before Hannah’s foot had even reached the floor, Dean had already gone and knocked over a vase. She sent him a glare. He ignored it as usual and continued walking around, Hannah following behind him. The floorboard creaked under her foot. Dean sent a look over his shoulder that clearly asked, ‘ _could you be any louder?’_ She gestured to the shattered pieces of the vase that he had broken.

 

They walked into the next room together. A hand gripped Hannah’s shoulder and her brain went into fight-mode. Within a second, she had knocked the arm away and was already throwing a punch. She could see a faint outline of her attacker. Tall, broad, and most certainly her younger brother, Sam Winchester. _Well, I’m keeping him on his toes alright._ Hannah could no longer sense Dean by her side. He must’ve disappeared when she and Sam started fighting.

 

Sam’s foot came flying at her. She leaned out of the way. His foot brushed her side. Moonlight streamed in through the blinds, basking the room in a faint light. They could see each other’s body more clearly now. At this point, Hannah knew she could’ve stopped. She probably should’ve, lest anyone got hurt.

_Oh well._

 

They kept at it. Elbows were thrown, kicks happened. As a desperate attempt to end it, Hannah tackled him to the ground. The pair landed with a thump. Sam continued to struggle under Hannah.

 

“Whoa, watch it,” Hannah said when Sam’s hand came to close to her face. “That’s my money maker.”

 

“Hannah?” He asked, completely out of breath. “Is that really you?”

 

Hannah got off him and stood up. Offering her hand, he took it. She pulled him up to his feet.

 

He glanced around. “Where’s Dean?”

 

“I was grabbing a beer.” The eldest sibling said as he waltzed back into the room. “Of course health nut here didn’t have any.”

 

Sam, startled by his entrance, threw a punch. Dean easily dodged it and grabbed Sam’s wrist.

 

“Whoa, easy tiger,” Dean said.

 

“You scared the crap out of me!”

 

“That’s cause you’re out of practice.”

 

Hannah walked over to stand next to Dean. She took a look at her younger brother, taking in all the changes from the past three years. He seemed taller, if that was even possible. His brown hair—the same shade of brown that Hannah had—now covered his ears. He had a little more muscle on him, and he seemed tenser than he had before. Well, she assumed he would be more relaxed if he hadn’t just caught his siblings breaking into his apartment.

 

“Dean, Hannah, what the hell are you doing here?”

 

Dean chuckled. “I told you, I was looking for a beer.” Hannah rolled her eyes.

 

“What the hell are you doing here?” His voice was low. The initial shock was wearing off and now he was getting angry.

 

“Somethin’s come up,” Hannah informed him. “We need you.”

 

He had given up hunting years ago to go to college. To have a normal life. Hannah knew that Sam wouldn’t give in easily to joining them. “Uh, the phone?” He asked.

 

“If we’d’a called, would you have picked up?”

 

The light turned on. Hannah blinked at the sudden harsh light. A female voice called out;

 

“Sam?”

 

The Winchester siblings turned to look at the woman wearing a cropped Smurf’s shirt and short shorts. She stared at Sam, eyes flickering between Dean and Hannah. Hannah gave a smile and waved, thinking about the first impression she was making on what appeared to be Sam’s girlfriend. _Hi, don’t mind us. We’re just Sam’s siblings that broke into his house in the middle of the night. I hope you don’t think we’re serial killers._

 

“Jess,” Sam said. “Hey. Dean, Hannah, this is my girlfriend, Jessica.”

 

Dean looked her over. A grin crept on his face; one that Hannah was way too familiar with. The same grin that Dean sported when he was trying to get it on with on with the women.

 

“Oh, I loved the Smurfs,” Dean told her. “You know, I gotta tell you. You are completely out of my brother’s league.”

 

Jess shifted uncomfortably in the doorway.

 

“Just let me put something on.”

 

“No, no, no, I wouldn’t dream of it.”

 

Hannah rolled her eyes and kicked his leg. Dean’s expression didn’t falter but shifted his gaze from Jess to Hannah. “Sorry for bothering you right now, but we need to talk to our brother really quick. Family emergency.” Hannah apologized.

 

Dean nodded. “Yeah, but, uh, nice meeting you.”

 

“No.”

 

Sam walked over to Jess and put his arm around her, pulling her close. “No, whatever you want to say, you can say it in front of her.”

 

“Okay.” Dean squared up to his little brother and his girlfriend. “Um. Dad hasn’t been home in a few days.”

 

Hannah internally winced at Dean’s words. Sam wouldn’t come if he thought that their father was just drunk and passed out somewhere on a park bench (it certainly wouldn’t be the first time).

 

And he didn’t. “So he’s working overtime on a Miller Time shift.” He argued. “He’ll stumble back in sooner or later.”

 

She stepped forward. “Dad’s gone hunting,” she explained slow and low. “And he hasn’t been home in a few days.”

 

Jess looked up at Sam whose expression was blank, but his lips were pressed together slightly.

 

“Jess, excuse us. We have to go outside.”

 

-~\/~-

 

The three siblings now stood outside Sam’s apartment. Sam had changed out of his nightwear and into a hoodie and jeans and was currently arguing with Dean and Hannah as they made their way down the staircase.

 

“I mean, come on. You can’t just break in, middle of the night, and expect me to hit the road with you.”

 

“I told you he wouldn’t be happy,” Hannah said in a sing-song voice to Dean. He shot her a glare. Turning back to Sam, he tried to get his point across.

 

“You’re not hearing me, Sammy. Dad’s missing. We need you to help us find him.”

 

“You remember the poltergeist in Amherst? Or the Devil’s Gates in Clifton? He was missing then, too. He’s always missing, and he’s always fine.”

 

Hannah stopped walking. Her brothers paused to stare at her. “You know what, Sam? Normally I’d agree with you.” Hannah sighed, not fully believing what she was about to say. “But it’s been too long. Now are you gonna come or not?” Without waiting for an answer, she took back off down the stairs again.

 

She could hear Sam call out after her, “I’m not. I can’t.” He told Dean who had opened to his mouth to argue. “I swore I was done hunting. For good.”

 

“Come on. It wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t that bad.”

 

“For you, maybe,” Hannah interjected. “You were always Dad’s favorite.”

 

Dean looked surprised. “No I wasn’t.” He looked to Sam for back up. “Right?”

 

“Uh, you were. He never had to deal with you the way he did us,” he gestured to him and Hannah.

 

“That’s crap.”

 

“Yeah? When I told Dad I was scared of the thing in my closet, he gave me a .45.”

 

“Well, what was he supposed to do?”

 

“I was nine years old! He was supposed to say, don’t be afraid of the dark.”

 

“You know what’s out there Sam,” Hannah interjected. “If everyone truly knew what lurked out there, they’d be scared of the dark too.”

 

“I know, but still.” Sam sighed. “The way we grew up, after Mom was killed, and Dad’s obsession to find the thing that killed her. But we still haven’t found the damn thing. So we kill everything we _can_ find.”

 

Dean argued, “We save a lot of people doing it, too.”

 

“You think Mom would have wanted this for us? The weapon training, and melting the silver into bullets? Man, we were raised like warriors.”

 

They were coming up to the Impala, and the siblings were still arguing. Hannah knew that this would happen. She inwardly was shouting at her brothers for not getting along but knew that it was part of their sibling instincts. They got along better than most siblings, but still had moments where they wanted to strangle the other for one reason or another.

 

“So what are you gonna do? You’re just gonna live some normal, apple pie life? Is that it?”

 

“No,” Sam said. “Not normal. Safe.”

 

“And that’s why you swore off hunting,” Hannah said softly. “Listen, Sam, as much as it pains me to admit this right now, we need you. Dad’s missing, if he’s not already dead.”

 

“We can’t do this alone.” Dean moved to stand beside Hannah. Together they stared at the youngest sibling.

 

“Yes, you can.”

 

“Yeah, well, we don’t want to.”

 

Sam sighed and looked down at the ground, thinking, and then back up at them.

 

“What was he hunting?”

 

Dean smiles. “Knew we could count on you.” Hannah moved to the trunk of the Impala, which she popped open. She lifted the spare-tire compartment, which held an arsenal, stocked full of weapons ranging from guns to machetes to knuckles. She propped it up with a shotgun and dug through the clutter.

 

“Where’d you leave the papers?” She called out.

 

Dean moved over to her. He tossed through for a second before picking up a folder.

 

“So when Dad left, why didn’t you guys go with him?”

 

“There was a voodoo thing down in New Orleans that we took care of,” Hannah answered.

 

“Dad let you two off by yourself?”

 

“I’m twenty-six, dude.” Dean sounded offended.

 

“And I’m twenty-four. We’re grown-ass adults. We can handle a hunt without Dad.”

 

“All right, here we go. So Dad was checking out this two-lane blacktop just outside of Jericho, California. About a month ago, this guy,” Dean handed Sam a paper from the folder with the words MISSING spread across the top with a picture under it. “They found his car, but he vanished. Completely MIA.”

 

“So maybe he was kidnapped,” Sam suggested.

 

“Here’s the thing,” Hannah said, taking the folder from Dean’s hands. “These disappearances date back twenty years. One in April,” she placed down a paper. “Another in December ‘oh-four, ‘oh-three, ‘ninety-eight, ‘ninety-two and so on. Ten of them spread over twenty years.” For every date, she had placed a paper down. “All of them are males, with nothing in common besides going missing on the same five-mile stretch of road.”

 

Dean pulled a bag out of another part of the arsenal. “It started happening more and more, so Dad went to go dig around. That was about three weeks ago. We haven’t heard from since, which is bad enough.” Dean picked up a handheld tape recorder. “Then I get this voicemail yesterday.” He pressed play, letting the message play out.

 

“Dean… something big is starting to happen… I need to try and figure out what’s going on. If Hannah… Be very careful, Dean. Same goes for your sister. We’re all in danger.” The message stopped, and Dean and Hannah turned to look at Sam’s reaction.

 

“You know there’s EVP on that?”

 

“Not bad, Sammy. Kinda like riding a bike, isn’t it?” Hannah shoved Dean’s arm while Sam shook his head.

 

“Yes, there’s EVP,” Hannah said. “I took the message and worked my magic. Ran it through a gold wave, took the hiss out, and this is what I got.”

 

Dean pressed play. A woman’s raspy voice filled the air, “I can never go home…”

 

“Never go home,” Sam repeated.

 

Dean started packing up the trunk. He took the shotgun out and shut the trunk before leaning on it. Hannah stood beside him with Sam across from them.

 

“You know, in almost two years we’ve never bothered you, never asked you for a thing.”

 

Hannah knew Dean wasn’t trying to guilt Sam into helping them. Despite what she said earlier about not wanting Sam to come, she found herself wishing he’d say yes. She hadn’t seen her brother in so long and would love to reconnect with him.

 

“All right. I’ll go. I’ll help you find him.” Grins broke out on the older siblings faces. “But I have to be back first thing Monday. Just wait here.” He turned back to his apartment, planning to grab some clothes for the weekend.

 

“Wait, what’s on Monday?” Hannah called after him.

 

“I have this… I have an interview.”

 

“What, a job interview? Skip it.” Dean said.

 

“It’s a law school interview, and it’s my future on a plate.”

 

“Way to go, Sammy.” Hannah congratulated. Dean smirked.

 

“So we got a deal or not?”

 

The siblings stayed silent.

 

-~\/~-

 

It’s late at night as a car drives down the highway. Inside the car, a young man, Troy, was talking on the phone.

 

“Amy, I can’t come over tonight. Because I’ve got work in the morning, that’s why… Yeah, okay, I miss it and my dad’s gonna have my ass.” He was interrupted by a high-pitched whine that came from his car. Troy looked out his window. Standing on the side of the road was a woman wearing a white dress. She wore no shoes and seemed as if she was dancing. She flickered, disappearing for a moment.

 

“Hey, ah, Amy, let me call you back?” Troy hung up. He fiddled with his radio, which refused to shut off, flickering. He pulled over and stopped his car, rolling down his window.

 

“Car trouble or something?” He asked. The woman didn’t answer right away. Troy noticed that her dress was dirty and had some tears in it.

 

“Take me home?” The woman finally asked.

 

Troy opened the passenger door for her. “Sure, get in.” The woman climbed in, making herself comfortable in the car. They started off again. “So, where do you live?”

 

“At the end of Breckenridge Road.”

 

Troy nodded. He started driving in that direction. “You coming from a Halloween party or something?” He asked, attempting to make small talk. He looked over at her, noticing that the dress she wore was very low-cut and showed off her breasts. He stared for a second before turning away and laughing nervously. “You know, a girl like you really shouldn’t be alone out here.”

 

She looked over at him. With a seductive look on her face, she pulled her skirt up over her thigh. “I’m with you.” She said in a sultry tone.

 

Troy swallowed. The woman reached over and grabbed Troy’s chin, turning his head to face him.

 

“Do you think I’m pretty?” She asked.

 

Troy nodded. His eyes were glued to her cleavage, not her eyes. “Uh…huh.”

 

“Will you come home with me?”

 

Despite his answer earlier to spend the night at his girlfriend’s house, he replied, “Um. Hell yeah.”

 

-~\/~-

 

They pulled up to an old abandoned house at the end of a road. It was falling apart with age, the windows dark and filthy. It looked like something from a horror movie. The woman gazed sadly at it.

 

“Come on. You don’t live here.” Troy asked.

 

“I can never go home.”

 

“What are you talking about?” Troy questioned. “Nobody even lives here. Where do you live?” He turned to face her. She was gone. Startled, he checked the backseat. Also empty. He got out of the car, searching for any sign of the woman. “That’s good. Joke’s over, okay? You want me to leave? He waits for an answer, receiving nothing but the sound of crickets in return. He started walking towards the house. “Hello? Hello?” Inside the house, he could see a picture of a woman and her two children. It was covered in dust, having never been cleaned for a long time. Troy peered through the hole in the screen door. A bird flew at him. Screaming, he fell to the ground. He quickly leaped to his feet and ran back to his car, driving away.

 

While driving, Troy kept looking in the rearview mirror. After a while, he started to calm down. He was a far distance from the house, near the bridge. He checked behind him once more, then looked in the mirror.

 

She was sitting in his seat.

 

He screamed again. He lost control of his car and drove right through the bridge’s “Bridge Closed” sign. He skidded to a halt halfway down the bridge. A scream could be heard before it was cut off and blood splattered the windows of the car.

 

-~\/~-

 

The Impala was parked at a gas station. Sam was sitting in the passenger seat, shuffling through Dean’s music collection. Hannah was relaxing in the backseat, spread out.

 

“I regret asking you to come. Now I’m stuck back here.” She complained to Sam. He chuckled.

 

Dean walked out of the convenience mart carrying a bag. “Hey!” Hannah sits up to look at him while Sam turns his head. “You want breakfast?” Hannah nods and Dean hands her the bag. She searches through it before she pulls out a granola bar.

 

“No, thanks.” Sam declined. “So how’d you pay for that stuff? You three still running credit card scams?”

 

“Don’t forget we hustle as well.” Hannah points out. “But yeah. We apply and they send us the cards.”

 

“Yeah? And what names did you write on the application this time?”

 

Dean smiles. “Uh, Burt Aframian, and his son and daughter Hector and Louise. Scored three cards out of the deal.”

 

“That sounds about right. I swear, man, you’ve gotta update your cassette collection.”

 

“Why?” Dean asks, confused.

 

“Well, for one, they’re cassette tapes. And two. Black Sabbath?” He held up a tape. “Motorhead? Metallica?” Dean snatched the tape from Sam. “It’s the greatest hits of mullet rock.”

 

“I have to agree with Sam, Dean,” Hannah says form the backseat. She leans forward so her head was in the front seat with her brothers. Seeing the accusing look on Dean’s face, she quickly corrects herself. “Only on the part about them being cassette tapes. I love me some Bon Jovi.”

 

Dean shakes his head. “Well, house rules, Sammy, Hannah.” He said, popping the cassette tape into the player. “Driver picks the music, shotgun shuts his cakehole.” He peered back at his sister. “And anyone else can put up or shut up.” Hannah sighed, leaning back in her seat.

 

AC/DC’s ‘Back in Black’ starts playing. Dean revs the Impala engine. “You know, Sammy is a chubby twelve-year-old. It’s Sam, okay?”

 

“Sorry, I can’t hear you, the music’s too loud,” Dean said as he turned the music up louder. And with that, they drive off.

 

-~\/~-

 

The Impala was cruising down the highway, passing a sign that read JERICHO 7.

 

Hannah was talking on the phone. “Thank you,” she said before flipping her phone shut. “I asked and as far as I can tell, there’s no one matching Dad’s description at the hospital or morgue. So that’s some good news at least.”

 

Dean pulled them up next to a bridge, where several policemen and sheriffs stood. “Check it out.” Dean shut off the engine. Leaning over Sam, he opened the glove compartment and took out the box filled with all their fake ID cards. He picked one up and threw it at Hannah and picked his up before grinning at Sam. “Let’s go.”

 

The three got out of the car and walked up the group of officers, acting like they belonged there.

 

“You fellas had another one like this just last month, didn’t you?” Dean questioned them. The two officers standing by the victim’s car turned to look at them.

 

“And who are you?”

 

Hannah took her badge and showed it to the officers. “We’re Federal marshals.”

 

“You three are a little young for marshals, aren’t you?”

 

Dean let out a laugh. “Thanks, that’s awfully kind of you.” Moment over, Dean turned his attention to the car. It was clean of any blood that had been there the night before. He walked around, looking for any clues that might have been helpful to them. “You did have another one just like this, correct?”

 

“Yeah, that’s right. About a mile up the road. There’ve been others before that.”

 

“So,” Sam started. “This victim, you knew him?”

 

The officer nodded. “Town like this, everybody knows everybody.”

 

“Are there any connection to the victims, besides the fact they’re all men?” Hannah asked.

 

“No,” the officer said, shaking his head. “Not so far as we can tell.”

 

“So what’s the theory?” Sam questioned.

 

“Honestly, we don’t know. Serial Murder? Kidnapping Ring?” He guessed, throwing random suggestions out.

 

From the look on Dean’s face, Hannah knew he was about to say something that would probably jeopardize the entire case. Before she could stop him, he said; “Well, that is exactly the kind of crack police work I’d expect out of you guys.”

 

Both Sam and Hannah stomped on Dean’s foot in retaliation for running his smart mouth.

 

“Thank you for your time.” Sam thanked them and then the three of them were off, hurrying away from the crime scene. “Gentlemen,” Sam said to two officers making their way through.

 

Once they passed, Dean smacked both of his siblings on the head.

 

“Ow!” Sam hissed. “What was that for?”

 

“Why’d you guys have to step on my feet?”

 

“Why do you have to smart mouth police like that?” Hannah countered.

 

Dean moved in front of them, forcing them to stop. “Come on. They don’t really know what’s going on. We’re all alone on this. I mean, if we’re going to find Dad we’ve got to get to the bottom of this thing ourselves.”

 

Hannah cleared her throat, looking at something over Dean’s shoulder. He turned around to see the sheriff and two FBI agents.

 

“Can I help you kids?”

 

“No, sir, we were just leaving.”

 

The FBI agents walked past them. Dean nodded at them as they went, muttering under his breath; “Agent Mulder. Agent Scully.”

 

The three of them made their way away from the scene of the crime.

 

-~\/~-

 

A young woman was holding a stack of flyers, pinning them up outside of a movie theater. Dean, Hannah, and Sam watched her. “I’ll bet you that’s her,” Dean said.

 

Sam and Hannah nodded in agreement. Together the three of them approached her.

 

“You must be Amy,” Dean said with a smile.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Yeah, Troy told us about you. We’re his uncles and aunt. I’m Dean, this is Sammy, and that’s Hannah.”

 

“He never mentioned you to me,” Amy said. She started walking away, and the Winchesters moved with her.

 

“Well, that’s Troy, I guess. We’re not around much, we’re up in Modesto.” Dean lied.

 

“So, we’re looking for him too, and we’re kinda asking around,” Sam explained.

 

Another woman came up to Amy, a sympathetic look on her face. “Hey, are you okay?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“I’m sorry, but do you think we could ask a couple questions?”

 

-~\/~-

 

They all sat in a booth, the two girls sat across from Dean, Sam, and Hannah. Hannah shifted, squished between the wall and Sam. Three could fit in a booth. Maybe a little squished, but they could. But the Winchesters were huge. Sam towered at 6’2”, Dean at 6’0”, and Hannah at 5’11”. The result – they were packed into the booth. Amy and her friend, whose name turned out to be Rachael, eyed them.

 

“I was on the phone with Troy,” Amy stated. “He was driving home. He said he would call me right back, and… he never did.”

 

“He didn’t say anything strange, or out of the ordinary?” Sam questioned.

 

Amy shook her head. “No. Nothing I can remember.”

 

Hannah’s gaze drifted down to her necklace, a pentagram in a circle. “Cool necklace.”

 

Everyone’s attention turned to Amy as she held the pendant. “Troy gave it to me. Mostly to scare my parents,” she laughed. “with all that devil stuff.”

 

“Actually,” Sam butted in. “It means just the opposite. A pentagram is protection against evil. Really powerful. I mean, if you believe in that kind of thing.”

 

“Okay. Thank you, Unsolved Mysteries.” Dean retorted. He took his arm off the back of Hannah’s seat and leaned forward. “Here’s the deal, ladies. The way Troy disappeared, something’s not right. So if you’ve heard anything…” He trailed off seeing the two friends look at each other. “What is it?”

 

“Well,” Rachael said nervously. “It’s just… I mean, with all these guys going missing, people talk.

 

“What do they talk about?” Dean, Hannah, and Sam said in chorus.

 

“It’s kind of this local legend. This one girl? She got murdered out on Centennial, like decades ago.” Rachel paused. Hannah nodded at her to go on. “Well, supposedly, she’s still out there. She hitchhikes, and whoever picks her up? Well, they disappear forever.”

 

The trio looked at each other, knowing that they finally had a lead.

 

-~\/~-

 

A web browser is open to the archive search page, the words ‘Female Murder Hitchhiking’ typed into the search bar. Dean sat at the computer. Sam and Hannah stood behind him, watching as the screen tells him ‘(0) Result’. Dean replaced ‘Hitchhiking’ with ‘Centennial Highway.’ He still got the same response.

 

“Let me try.” Sam offered, reaching out to take the mouse and keyboard. Dean smacked his hand away.

 

“I got it.”

 

Hannah laughed. “Clearly.” Dean looked at her. “Move over, genius.” When Dean didn’t move, Hannah pushed his chair away.

 

“Such control freaks, the both of you,” Dean said.

 

“Whatever,” Hannah dismissed him. “We’re looking for an angry spirit, right? Well, who says it has to be murder to be a violent death?” With that, she replaced ‘Murder’ with ‘Suicide,’ smiling at Dean when the screen showed an article title ‘Suicide on Centennial.’  She opened the article and read through it.

 

“This was 1981,” Sam stated from over her shoulder. “Constance Welch, twenty-four years old, jumps off Sylvania Bridge, drowns in the river.”

 

“Does it say why she did it?” Dean asks.

 

“Yup,” Hannah said.

 

“What?”

 

“About an hour before they found her, she had called 911. It says that her two little kids were in the bathtub. She left them alone for a minute, and when she came back… they were dead.” Hannah told Dean. She swallowed a lump in her throat. She hated when children died, they were always too young.

 

Dean raised his eyes at the information. “’Our babies were gone, and Constance just couldn’t bear it,’ said husband Joseph Welch.” Sam read the article. Dean’s attention; however, was on the picture.

 

“The bridge look familiar to you?” And it did. It was the same bridge where Troy’s car had been found.

 

-~\/~-

 

Hannah, Sam, and Dean walked along the bridge that they had been to earlier that day. They leaned over the rail, watching the muddy river run below them.

 

“So this is where Constance took the swan dive,” Dean said.

 

“So you think Dad would have been here?”

 

“Well, he’s chasing the same story and we’re chasing him.”

 

“Okay, so now what?”

 

“We have to look,” Hannah answered. “Maybe do some research, try to find out where he could have disappeared.”

 

“Might take a while,” Dean added.

 

Sam stopped walking. “Guys, I told you, I’ve gotta get back by Monday—”

 

Dean turned around to face his baby brother. “Monday. Right. The interview. Yeah, I forgot.” Dean said, which Hannah knew was a big lie. Dean had no doubt been hoping that Sam would change his mind and want to stay with them on the hunt to find Dad. She knew it because, despite hating herself for it, wanted the same thing. She hadn’t been this happy for a long time. And it was all because Sam was back with them. She wanted Sam back as a family, instead of letting him do what he wanted.

_God, I’m selfish._ She thought. Sam was happy at Stanford. He was doing good in his grades if the interview was anything to go by. And he even had a girlfriend that she could tell he loved. And Hannah wanted to take him away from all of that just so that she could have both her brothers by her side.

 

“You’re really serious about this, aren’t you?” Dean went on. “You think you’re just going to become some lawyer? Marry your girl?”

 

“Dean,” Hannah warned. “Don’t start this right now.”

 

“Why not?” He wheeled on her. “Dad’s missing and we’re busting our ass trying to find him while he’s off playing house—”

 

“That’s not my life. I’m not a hunter like you two and Dad are.” Sam said.

 

“You have a responsibility to—”

 

“To Dad and his crusade? If it weren’t for pictures I wouldn’t even know what Mom looks like. And what difference would it make? Even if we do find the thing that killed her, Mom’s gone. And she isn’t coming back.”

 

Dean grabbed Sam by the collar and shoved him up against the railing of the bridge. Hannah ran up to the boys. Her plan was to try and separate them before they said anything else that night. “Don’t talk about her like that,” Dean growled. Hannah finally pried the boys apart. Sam stood there while Dean walked away.

 

He froze, however when he saw the ghost of Constance standing on the edge of the bridge. “Hannah, Sam.” He called out. Hannah and Sam turned around, eyes widening when they saw Constance. The ghost looked over at them, then stepped off the edge. Sam, Hannah, and Dean ran to the railing, looking for any sign of her.

 

“Where’d she go?” Dean asked.

 

“No clue,” Hannah replied, confused as she looked.

 

Behind them, Hannah heard the Impala’s engine start and light flooded over them. They turned around, blinded by the bright headlights.

 

“Oh no,” Hannah whispered.

 

“Who’s driving your car?” Sam asked.

 

Dean pulled out the keys and jingled them. Sam and Hannah glanced at the keys in their older brother’s hand. The car jerked forward, barreling right for them.

 

“Run!” Hannah shouted. They all turned tail and ran. The car was faster than they were and was gaining on them. They jumped over the rail, diving towards the river. The car stopped.

 

Under the bridge, Hannah and Sam were hanging on to the edge of the bridge, saving themselves from the river. They pulled themselves up onto the bridge. When they noticed Dean was missing, they started calling out for him.

 

“Dean? Dean!” They shouted into the night.

 

Below them, a filthy and annoyed Dean crawled out of the river and onto the mud, panting. “What?” He called up.

 

“There you are.” Hannah was relieved. He didn’t seem to be injured, so good for him.

 

“Are you all right?” Sam asked.

 

Dean held up an A-OK sign. “I’m super.”

 

Sam and Hannah laughed. They scooted away from the edge, not wanting to get all muddy themselves.

 

Dean met them by the Impala. He shut the hood of his car and leaned on it.

 

“The car good?” Hannah asked.

 

“Yeah, whatever she did to it, seems all right now. That Constance chick, what a _bitch_!” He shouted the last part, his frustration catching up with him.

 

“Well, she doesn’t want us digging around, that’s for sure. So where’s the job go from here, genius?”

 

Sam and Hannah settle on the hood on either side of Dean. Dean threw his arms up in frustration, then flicked some mud off his hands. Hannah sniffed, then looked at Dean.

 

“God, you smell like a toilet.” She laughed at Dean as he looked down and sniffed his shirt.

 

-~\/~-

 

They stood in the lobby of a motel the next morning. Dean was still covered in whatever had been in that river, cause it certainly wasn’t just mud. “One room, please.” Dean requested, tossing the scammed credit card on the counter. The clerk picked up the card.

 

Upon noticing the name, he asked: “You guys having a reunion or something?”

 

“What do you mean?” Sam questioned.

 

“I had another guy, Burt Aframian. He came and bought out a room for the whole month.” The siblings looked at each other.

 

-~\/~-

 

The motel door swung open. Hannah stood up, having just picked the lock. Dean and Sam stood outside, being her lookout. Sam and Hannah enter. Dean stayed outside until Sam reaches and grabs him by the shoulder and pulling him into the room. The door closed behind him with a thud. The room was a mess—every vertical surface had been covered with papers; maps, newspaper clippings, pictures, little notes. There was a pile of books on the desk and junk on the floor and bed.

 

“Whoa,” Sam whispered.

 

Hannah turned the light that was by the bed on. Next to it was a half-eaten hamburger. She picked it up and sniffed it, recoiling when the foul stench hit her nose. “Eww. Dean this almost smells as bad as you do.”

 

Dean shot a glare at her. “I don’t think he’s been here for a couple days at least.”

 

Sam was looking at something on the floor, Hannah noticed. She saw a white line and realized it was a salt line.

 

“Salt, cats-eye shells… he was worried.” Sam informed them. “Trying to keep something from coming in.” he glanced over at Dean who was staring at a paper tacked to the wall. “What have you got here?”

 

“Centennial Highway victims,” Dean answered. “I don’t get it. I mean, different men, different jobs, ages, ethnicities. There’s always a connection, right? What do these guys have in common?”

 

Hannah was over by the other wall while Dean talked, looking at theories about what it could be. Hannah turned the lamp on, illuminating the wall in an orange glow. Hannah saw the same article that they had read earlier, with a note pinned above it that read ‘Woman in White’ in their Dad’s handwriting.

 

“Way to go, Dad,” she said. “You figured it out.”

 

The boys turned to look at her. “What do you mean?” They asked in unison.

 

“Look,” she gestured to the newspaper clipping. “Dad found the same article on Constance Welch. And guess what, she’s a woman in white.”

 

Dean looked at the photos of Constance’s victims. “You sly dogs.” He turned back to Hannah. “All right, so if we’re dealing with a woman in white, Dad would have found the corpse and destroyed it.”

 

“She might have another weakness,” Sam pointed out.

 

“Well, Dad would want to make sure. He’d dig her up. Does it say where she’s buried?”

 

“Nope,” Hannah answered. “We’ll have to ask the husband, if he’s even still alive.”

 

“All right. Why don’t you two, uh, see if you can find an address, I’m gonna get cleaned up.”

 

Dean started to walk away, but Sam stopped him. “Hey, Dean? What I said earlier, about Mom and Dad, I’m sorry. To both of you.”

 

Dean held up his hand. “No chick-flick moments.”

 

Hannah laughed. Sam smiled. “All right, Jerks.”

 

“Bitches,” Dean said.

 

Hannah smiled. “Asses.”

 

They all laugh, happy and content for the moment. Everything was going well. They had just figured out what Constance was, and that Dad had been there. Dean moved into the bathroom, shutting it behind him. Hannah collapsed on the bed, tired and worn out. Sam stood there. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed a something stuck in the mirror frame. He moved closer. It was a photo of John sitting on the hood of the Impala, next to Dean who was wearing a baseball cap. Sitting on John’s lap was Sam, smiling for the camera. Hannah was sitting on the other side of John, Sam’s hand clasped in her.

 

Sam took the photo out of the frame and held it, a sad smile on his face.

 

-~\/~-

 

Sam paced the room, phone in hand. A voicemail was playing, Jess’s voice playing loud and clear.

 

“Hey, it’s me, it’s about ten-twenty Saturday night—”

 

Dean came out of the bathroom, clean again. He grabbed his jacket, shrugging it on one shoulder as he crossed the room. He snatched the pillow from under Hannah’s head. “Wake up, smalls. I’m starving.” Hannah groaned and weakly slapped her brother’s leg. “I’m gonna grab a little something to eat in that diner down the street. You two want anything?”

 

“No,” Sam said.

 

“Aframian’s buying.” Dean tried to persuade him.

 

“Tell him that I want a milkshake and burger,” Hannah called out from the bed. “And that I’m not _small!_ ”

 

“Whatever you say, smalls. Get up yourself and come with me.”

 

“Fine,” Hannah huffed. They walked out of the motel room together. Crossing the lot, they see a police car. The motel clerk talking to the officers. The clerk pointed to them, which set off an alarm in Hannah’s head.

 

Hannah reached for her phone, dialing Sam’s number. “What.” He answers.

 

The officers start walking towards them. Hannah waves Dean off to distract them for a second. “Five-oh. Take off.”

 

“What about you two?”

 

“We’re found. Now, go find Dad.” Hannah hung up. She turned around to see the officer asking Dean if he had anything that was real.

 

“My boobs.” He answered with his signature grin.

 

The officer slammed Dean down on the hood of the cop car. The other officer came over to Hannah who silently put her hands in the air. “You have the right to remain silent.”

 

-~\/~-

 

Hannah and Dean sat at a table. The sheriff entered, holding a box. He set the box on the table, dropping it with a thud.

 

“So you want to give us your real names?”

 

“I told you, it’s Nugent. Ted Nugent.” Dean said.

 

“And I’m Ally Nugent.” Hannah lied.

 

“I’m not sure you realize just how much trouble you’re in here.”

 

“We talkin’, like, misdemeanor kind of trouble, or, uh, squeal like a pig trouble?” Dean taunted.

 

“You got the faces of ten missing person taped to your wall. Along with a whole lot of Satanic mumbo-jumbo. You two are officially suspects.”

 

“Ah, that’s logical,” Hannah said. “Cause it ‘82 when the first one went missing, it’s not like I couldn’t walk yet.”

 

“I know you’ve got partners. One of ‘em’s an older guy. Maybe he started the whole thing. So tell me, Dean, Hannah,” the siblings were shocked, but even more so when the sheriff tossed a brown leather-covered journal on the table.

 

“This his?” Hannah and Dean didn’t answer. The sheriff sat down and started flipping through the journal, filled to the brim with newspaper clippings, notes, pictures, and drawings. “I thought that might be your names. See, I leafed through this. What little I could make out—I mean, it’s nine kinds of crazy. But I found this, too.” The siblings leaned forward for a closer look. The journal was open to a page that read ‘DEAN 35-111’, circled with nothing else on the page.

 

“Now,” the sheriff started. “You’re stayin’ right here till you tell me exactly what the hell that means.” The Winchesters stared down at the page, and then each other, each thinking the same thing.

 

Dad had left.

 

-~\/~-

 

Sam knocked on the door of an older house. There was a chain-link covering the grimy windows. There was junk piled in the driveway; tires and used cars laying around in the sun. A man who appeared to be in his late sixties opened the door.

 

“Hi. Are you Joseph Welch?”

 

“Yeah,” the older man answered.

 

“I came here to ask you a few questions. Could we walk?”

 

Joseph nodded. They walked down the long dirt driveway. Sam handed a photo of John to Joseph, asking him if he had come by.

 

“Yeah, he was older, but that’s him. He came by three or four days ago. Said he was a reporter.”

 

“That’s right,” Sam confirmed for him. “We’re working on a story together.”

 

“Well, I don’t know what the hell kinda you’re working on. The questions he asked me?”

 

“About your wife Constance?” Sam asked.

 

“He asked me where she was buried.”

 

“And where is that again?”

 

“What, I gotta go through this twice?” He huffed.

 

“It’s fact-checking. If you don’t mind.”

 

“In a plot. Behind my old place on Breckenridge.”

 

Sam had to play the part of a reporter, so he asked, “And why did you move?”

 

“I’m not gonna live in the house where my children died.”

 

They stopped walking. Sam turned to face Joseph head on. “Mr. Welch, did you ever marry again?”

 

“No way. Constance, she was the love of my love. Prettiest woman I ever knew.”

_Sure_ , Sam thought to himself. _And that’s why you cheated on her._

 

“So you had a happy marriage?”

 

Joseph hesitated before he answered, “Definitely.”

 

“Well, that should do it. Thanks for your time.”

 

Sam started making his way towards the Impala. It had been left at the motel when Hannah and Dean had been arrested so he had taken it and sneaked off to interview the husband. Halfway there, he paused. He turned back to Joseph.

 

“Mr. Welch,” he called. “Did you ever hear of a woman in white?”

 

Joseph turned around. “A what?”

 

“A woman in white,” Sam repeated. “Or sometimes weeping women?” When Joseph continued to give him a blank look, he explained. “It’s a ghost story. Well, it’s more of a phenomenon, really.” Sam started walking closer to him. “Um, they’re spirits. They’ve been sighted for hundreds of years, dozens of places, in Hawaii, Mexico, lately in Arizona, Indiana. All these different women.” Sam had reached Joseph now, only a foot or two away from him. “You understand. But all share the same story.”

 

Joseph didn’t seem to catch on to what Sam was trying to imply. “Boy, I don’t care much for nonsense.” He started to walk away, stopping only when Sam told him,

 

“See, when they were alive, their husbands were unfaithful to them.”

 

He turned around. He was mad now. His fists shook with unrestrained anger. “You think… you think that has something to do with… Constance? You smartass!” He yelled.

 

“You tell me,” his voice ever calm.

 

“I mean, maybe… maybe I made some mistakes.” Joseph admitted. “But no matter what I did, Constance, she never would have killed her own children. Now, you get hell out of here! And don’t you come back!” His fists still shook, but this time, from grief, anger, or guilt, Sam didn’t know. After a long moment, Sam headed back to the car.

 

-~\/~-

 

“I don’t know how many times we gotta tell you,” Dean said for the umpteenth time. “It’s my high school locker combo.”

 

“We gonna do this all night long?” The sheriff asked. He clearly didn’t believe Dean. Hannah needed to figure out a solution fast.

 

They were interrupted when another officer leaned into the room.

 

“We just got a 911, shots fired over at Whiteford Road.”

 

“You two have to go to the bathroom?”

 

“No,” They answered at the same time.

 

“Good.” Before they could react, he slapped handcuffs on them. Hannah was cuffed to the table and Dean was cuffed to her. The sheriff nodded before leaving the room. Hannah noticed a paper clip poking out of the journal. With her head, she gestured to it for Dean to notice. With his free hand, he grabbed it and started picking at the locks. Hannah rubbed her wrists, grateful that the cuffs hadn’t been on long, but he could’ve been gentler putting them on. They made their way over to the door and peeked through the window where they saw the officers getting ready to leave. They ducked out of sight. Once the officers were gone, Hannah snatched the journal off the table and Dean lifted the window for them to climb out of.

 

-~\/~-

 

Sam was driving when his phone rang. He didn’t even have to say hello before the other two started talking.

 

“Fake 911 phone call?” Dean’s voice came through. “Sammy, I don’t know, that’s pretty illegal.”

 

“But,” interjected Hannah. “It’s not like that means anything to us.”

 

Sam smiled, even though his siblings couldn’t see it. “You’re welcome.”

 

“Listen, we gotta talk,” Dean informed him.

 

“Tell me about it. So the husband _was_ unfaithful. We _are_ dealing with a woman in white. And she’s buried behind her old house, so that should’ve been Dad’s next stop.”

 

“Sammy, would you shut up for a second?” Dean asked.

 

“I just can’t figure out why Dad hasn’t destroyed the corpse yet.”

 

Hannah huffed and grabbed the phone from her brother. “That’s because he’s not here to do it. Dad split.”

 

“What?” Sam spluttered. “How do you know?”

 

“Well, I’m holding his journal. I mean, that’s a sure-fire sign.”

 

“He doesn’t go anywhere without that thing,” Sam stated.

 

“Yeah, well, he did this time,” Dean said with a tired sigh.

 

“What’s it say?”

 

“Ah, the same old ex-Marine crap, when he wants to let us know where he’ s going,” Dean replied.

 

“Coordinates. Where to?”

 

“35-111,” Hannah said. “Don’t know where it leads to yet, though.”

 

“I don’t understand,” Sam muttered. “I mean, what could be so important that Dad would just skip out in the middle of a job? Guys, what the hell is going on?” Sam looked up and slammed on the brake, dropping his phone. He rammed right through the ghost of Constance. He could hear Dean and Hannah’s voices through his phone, yelling out for him. Constance now sat in the back seat, staring at Sam through the rearview mirror.

 

“Take me home.”

 

-~\/~-

 

Hannah stared at the phone. Dean hung it back up and exited the cramped photo booth. Following suit, Hannah glanced at her older brother.

 

“Do you think he’ll be okay?”

 

“Come on, this is Sammy we’re talkin’ about. Of course, he’ll be fine.”

 

“Of course,” Hannah reassured herself. Then they took off running.

 

-~\/~-

 

“Take me home!”

 

“No,”

 

Constance glared at him, eyes making contact through the mirror. Sam heard the clicking sounds of the door locks. He tried to open his door, but the door didn’t budge. The car started to move. It took off down the road.

 

After some driving, they arrived outside the old, run-down house.

 

“Don’t do this.” Sam pleaded with the ghost. It was pointless but worth trying.

 

Constance wasn’t looking at Sam, however. She was gazing sadly at the house. “I can never go home.”

 

“You’re scared to go home,” Sam whispered as the realization came to him. He turned around to look at her…

 

The seat was empty. Quickly scanning for where she could’ve gone, Constance reappeared in the seat next to him. She climbed onto his lap, straddling him. Sam squirmed under her, the seat reclining from under him.

 

“Hold me. I’m so cold.” Constance ran her hands over Sam’s chest.

 

“You can’t kill me,” Sam argued as he tried to fight with the ghost. “I’m not unfaithful. I’ve never been!”

 

He saw a small smile dance across her lips. “You will be. Just hold me.” Dipping down, she kissed Sam. He fought back against her. After a second she flickered out of sight. Sam lifted his head and looked around for a moment before yelling in pain. He yanked his hoodie open and saw that five new holes had been burned into his shirt. Constance reappeared, fingers digging into the holes.

 

Sam heard the sound of a gunshot followed by a shattering window. Glass rained down upon him. Dean and Hannah were approaching the car, guns in hand. Hannah fired another shot at Constance, who glared at her before vanishing.

 

Sitting up, he managed to grab the keys and start the car. “I’m taking you home.” Dean and Hannah watched as Sam drove the car through the side of the house. They ran after their brother.

 

“Sam! Sammy, you okay in there?” Hannah asked, peering through the intact window.

 

“I think…”

 

“Can you move?” Dean asked on the other side.

 

“Yeah. Help me?” Dean held his hand out.

 

Hannah watched as Constance picked up an object from the floor—a picture frame. She seemed upset. Dean and Sam stood next to her, and the three siblings ended up trapped. Constance had pinned them between the car and an old dresser. They pushed at it, trying to let it up.

 

Constance didn’t pay them any attention. Her gaze seemed fixed on the two small figures that stood hand-in-hand at the top of the stairs.

 

“You’ve come home to us, Mommy.” Hannah shivered. There wasn’t anything more she hated than cats, but ghost children? That came pretty close.

 

The children teleported next to their mother, grabbing her white dress. Constance screamed, and together the family of three melted into the floor, leaving nothing more than a wet patch on the ground.

 

The siblings pushed the dresser off of them and it fell with a thud. “So this is where she drowned her kids.”

 

“That’s why she could never go home.”

 

“She was too scared,” Hannah whispered. “She couldn’t face her own kids.”

 

“You found her weak spot.” Dean praised. “Nice work, Sammy.” He slapped Sam’s chest, where Constance had tried to dig her hand into. Sam let out a weak laugh.

 

“Wish I could say the same for Hannah.” He turned to face her. “What were you thinking shooting Casper in the face, you freak?”

 

“I wasn’t.” She replied with a shit-eating grin on her face. “It’s a wonderful thing… you should try it some time.”

 

“Think I’ll have to pass.” Sam smiled at his sister. She gave him a small side-hug.

 

“I’ll tell you another thing. If you screwed up my car?” Dean called out as he inspected his baby. “I’ll kill you.”

 

-~\/~-

 

The Impala tore down the road, right headlight broken from the struggle. Inside, Sam propped the map higher, using his ruler to find the coordinates that Hannah had told him from the backseat.

 

“Okay, here’s where Dad went. It’s called Blackwater Ridge, Colorado.”

 

Dean nodded. “Sounds charming. How far?”

 

“About six hundred miles.”

 

Hannah leaned forward. “Great. So if we hurry, we can drop you back off at Stanford and then high-tail it. Could make it by mid-day, at least.”

 

Dean’s grip on the wheel tightened. Sam saw the disappointed look on his brother’s face. “Dean, the interview’s in like, ten hours. I gotta be there.”

 

“Yeah. Yeah, whatever. I’ll take you home.”

 

Hannah leaned back, surveying her two brothers. She felt an odd sense of uneasiness come over her. Dean turned up the radio, blasting ‘Highway to Hell’. She let the music drown her thoughts out.

 

-~\/~-

 

They pulled up in front of Sam’s apartment a couple hours later. Sam got out. Leaning low, he stuck his back in through the window. “Call me if you find him.” Dean nodded, still upset. “And maybe I can meet up with you two later, huh?”

 

“Of course.” Hannah smiled. Sam patted the car door twice and turned away.

 

“Sam?” Dean called. Sam turned back. “You know, we made a hell of a team back there.”

 

Sam smiled softly. “Yeah.”

 

Dean started to drive off. Hannah rolled down her own window and called, “Don’t be a stranger!”

 

Sam laughed and watched his siblings disappear. After a second, he entered his apartment. It was dark and quiet. “Jess? You home?”

 

He saw the plate of cookies that Jess had made for him, next to a little note in her neat handwriting, ‘Missed You! Love you!’. Sam picked one up and headed to their bedroom. He could hear the shower running. Sam collapsed on the bed, chewing the cookie. His eyes were shut, relaxing. Blood dripped onto his head, one drop, then another. Flinching, he opened his eyes.

 

Jess was attached to the ceiling, her stomach slit open and dripping blood.

 

“No!” He yelled as she burst into flames. Over the roar of the flames, he could hear footsteps and the sound of his brother and sister yelling his name.

 

“Sam!”

 

“Sammy!”

 

His bedroom door swung open, revealing Hannah and Dean.

 

“Sam!”

 

-~\/~-

 

As Dean drove on, Hannah kept glancing back towards where they had dropped off their brother. Dean noticed.

 

“He’s gonna be fine. Kid can take care of himself.”

 

“I know he can. It’s just…” Before she could say much more, the radio that had been silent burst on, static coming through the speakers. Hannah straightened, eyes locked on Dean. He jerked the car around and pressed the gas pedal to the floor. They were on a race, and they couldn’t lose. Not with Sam on the line.

 

They pulled up outside his apartment. Hannah jumped out of the car before it had fully stopped and started running, Dean close on her heels. She kicked open the front door. Hannah could hear her younger brother’s yells for Jess.

 

“Sam!” Dean yelled.

 

“Sammy!”

 

She burst into his bedroom. It felt like she had stepped into a flashback. But instead of seeing her mother, it was Jess burning on the ceiling instead. She had been two when it happened but seeing it first hand had seared the memory into her brain forever.

 

Dean rushed forward and grabbed Sam, pulling him off the bed. Sam fought, reaching out for Jess. Hannah grabbed Sam’s other arm and the two older siblings dragged Sam out of the bedroom, the house, and eventually on to the front lawn. By that time, Sam had stopped fighting and instead collapsed against the ground, silently weeping. Hannah got sank to her knees next to him and rubbed his back.

 

“I’ve got you,” she whispered to him. “I’ve got you.”

 

-~\/~-

 

Firemen walked around, extinguishing the last of the burning embers. Policemen kept back the neighbors, standing in their jammies middle of the night to see what was going on. Dean looked on. He didn’t know why the demon had decided to come here, but one thing was clear—Sam wasn’t okay.

 

He went over to Hannah. She had taken residence against the car. Her eyes were focused on Sam, the youngest sibling. Hannah watched him carefully, making sure that he didn’t break down. Standing over the trunk, he loaded a shotgun, his face a mask of anger. He tossed the shotgun in once he finished. His siblings stood by his side. Closing the trunk, he whispered,

 

“We got work to do.”

 

 


	2. 01x02 - Wendigo

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sam, Hannah, and Dean follow the coordinates in their father's journal and land in Colorado, where they investigate the disappearance of several campers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here's chapter 2! I hope you guys enjoyed the first chapter. Sorry for the editing mistakes, three weeks into school and I've already had two major grade projects so I'm working when I can.
> 
> Again, this is unedited.
> 
> This chapter has 7,834 words.

It had been a week since the fire before the Winchester’s finally packed up and left. Sam had refused to leave without investigating, so they stuck around and tried to do some digging. Hannah had hoped that the demon would still be there. It was a foolish hope—the demon had split as quickly as it had hit, leaving nothing but death and devastation in its wake.

 

They were making their way to Blackwater Ridge, Colorado now. The scenery passed by out the windows. Sitting there, Hannah couldn’t help but wonder why the demon had come twenty-two years later. She thought about her father’s recent disappearance and thought that maybe he was closing in on it, once and for all.

 

In the backseat, Sam jerked awake. Hannah tried to ignore the fact that Sam had just woken up from another nightmare. Not that she could blame him. Losing the love the love of your life to the same thing that killed your mom was a horrible ordeal to go through. Hannah wished that it hadn’t happened to her brother of all people.

 

Dean looked in the rearview mirror, glancing at his brother concerned. “You okay?”

 

Sam glanced at Hannah and Dean before quickly looking away again. “Yeah, I’m fine.” Hannah tried to ignore the blatant lie.

 

“Nightmare?” She asked. The only answer she got was the clearing of his throat, but it was the only one she needed.

 

“You wanna drive for a while?” Dean offered. Under different circumstances, Hannah would’ve been offended that she wasn’t asked. But she knew that Dean was only trying to distract Sam.

 

Sam laughed in disbelief. “Dean, your whole life you never once asked me that.”

 

“Or me,” Hannah added.

 

“Just thought you might want to,” Dean grumbled. “Never mind.”

 

“Look, guys, you’re worried about me. I get it, and thank you, but I’m perfectly okay.”

 

Hannah glanced back at him. “So is this gonna become a thing?” She asked.

 

Sam looked confused. “Is what?”

 

“Lying to each other?” She answered. Sam shifted in his seat. His legs were scrunched up, an uncomfortable position for him. “It’s okay if you’re not fine. We wouldn’t expect you to be. But if we’re gonna deal with this, we gotta be honest about it. Capeesh?”

 

Sam nodded. Hannah glanced around, noting that Dean was avoiding looking at her. She narrowed her eyes, but said nothing. Instead, she grabbed one of her knives and started twirling it around her fingers. “So how far are we from X marks the spot, Captain?”

 

Dean grinned. “We are just outside of Grand Junction.” Sam grabbed the map and started looking at their position.

 

“You know what?” He said. “Maybe we shouldn’t have left Stanford so soon.”

 

Dean sighed at the conflict that they’d been having the day before they left. “Sam, we dug around there for a week. We came up with nothing. If you wanna find the thing that killed Jessica-”

 

“We gotta find Dad first.” Sam finished.

 

“Atta boy,” Hannah teased. She set the knife beside her. “Dad’s disappearance and this thing showing up exactly twenty-two years later? There’s a link somewhere.”

 

“Exactly. Dad will have answers.” Dean continued. “He’ll know what to do.”

 

Sam’s eyes scanned over the map sitting on his lap. “It’s weird, guys. These coordinates he left us, this Blackwater Ridge.”

 

Dean frowned. “What about it?”

 

“There’s nothing there. It’s just woods.” Sam folded up the map. “Why is he sending us to the middle of nowhere?”

 

-~\/~-

 

They had reached a ranger station. Inside, they were looking around at the maps and stuffed animals. Hannah was looking at a 3D map model of the forest surrounding them. “Whoa.”

 

Sam turned to look at her. “What? What is it?”

 

“See this?” She gestured to the map. “It’s like nature’s Fort Knox. Blackwater Ridge is surrounded by canyons—” she traced the board with her finger as she spoke, mapping out the surrounding area. “—rough terrain, forest, and several abandoned mines.”

 

“Dude, dudette,” Dean said from behind Hannah. “Check out the size of this friggin’ bear.” She turned around to see Dean looking at a photo. When she got closer, she saw that the photo was of a man standing behind a large bear. Hannah let out a long whistle.

 

“Jesus,” she muttered. “That’s bigger than your average Yogi bear.”

 

“And a dozen or more grizzlies in the area,” Sam said. “It’s no nature hike, that’s for sure.”

 

“You three aren’t planning on going out near Blackwater Ridge by any chance?” A voice asked from behind the trio. Startled, they all jumped and whipped around. A man, park ranger by the looks of it, was staring at them.

 

“Oh, no, sir, we’re environmental study majors from UC Boulder,” Sam lied off the top of his head. “Just working on a paper.”

 

Dean grinned and raised his fist. “Recycle, man.”

 

“Bull.” The ranger said. Hannah leaned back, making eye contact with Sam. They shared a quick look of worry. “Your friends with that Haley girl, right?”

 

Dean paused. “Yes.” He said after a second. Behind him, Sam pondered what Dean had just gotten them into. “Yes, we are, Ranger—” he looked at the nametag. “—Wilkinson.”

 

“Well, I will tell you exactly what we told her. Her brother filled out a backcountry permit saying he wouldn’t be back from Blackwater until the twenty-fourth, so it’s not exactly a missing persons now, is it?” The ranger explained, leading them back away from the photo. “Tell that girl to quit worrying. I’m sure her brother’s just fine.”

 

“We will.” Dean agreed. “Well, that Haley girl’s quite a pistol huh?”

 

Wilkinson huffed out a laugh. “That is putting it mildly.”

 

Hannah stepped forward, connecting the dots. “So I know you’ve told her, but maybe she needs to see it. I’m sure you could get us a copy of that backcountry permit. It’d get her off your back.”

 

As soon as the ranger had made a copy and given it to them, they left. Dean started laughing. Sam stopped and faced him. “Alright. Dean, I get. Cruising for a hookup—” Dean gave him an affronted look that Sam pointedly ignored. “—but you, Hannah?”

 

His sister shrugged. “What can I say other than Dad sent us here and now suddenly, oh look, a missing person!”

 

“According to this permit, Tommy Collins and a couple of his friends agreed that they wouldn’t be back until the twenty-fourth. It’s only the tenth!” Sam argued. “If finding Dad meant as much to you as I thought it did, then we wouldn’t check this out. We’d be out in Blackwater Ridge lookin’ for him.” With a huff, he turned and stomped back to the Impala.

 

Dean leaned over towards Hannah. “Since when is he all shoot first ask questions later?”

 

Hannah watched Sam slam the passenger door of the Impala. “Since now, apparently.” She took off after her younger brother, leaving Dean standing by himself.

 

“Really?” He muttered to himself.

 

-~\/~-

 

Dean, Hannah, and Sam stood on the porch of what was supposed to be the Collin’s house. The floor creaked under Hannah’s boot. She wondered if the thing would collapse under everyone’s weight. The door opened, revealing a woman not that much younger than Hannah or Sam perhaps. They were separated by a screen door.

 

“You must be Haley Collins. I’m Dean, this is Hannah—” he gestured to Hannah who gave a small wave. “—and this is Sam, we’re ah, we’re rangers with the Park Service. Ranger Wilkinson sent us over. We wanted to ask a few questions about your brother Tommy.”

 

Haley hesitated. “Lemme see some ID.”

 

Hannah and Dean pulled out their badges. They pressed them against the screen door for Haley to see. She looked at the badge, and then at the siblings. Haley opened the door after a couple seconds. “Come on in.”

 

“Thanks,” Dean said walking by her. Haley looked past him and caught sight of the Impala.

 

“That yours?” She pointed at it. Hannah and Sam turned to look at the Impala. Dean smiled.

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Nice car.”

 

Dean headed in after Haley. He turned back around to Sam and Hannah and mouthed ‘ _hot’._ Sam rolled his eyes while Hannah wrinkled her nose at their brother’s behavior.

 

Haley led them to the kitchen, where a young boy sat at the table on his laptop. “So if Tommy’s not due back for a while,” Sam questioned. “how do you know something’s wrong?”

 

Haley entered the room carrying a bowl. She set the bowl on the table before answering, “He checks in every day by cell. He emails, photos, stupid little videos—we haven’t heard anything in over three days now.”

 

“How would he get cell reception in a place like that?” Hannah asked.

 

“He’s got a satellite phone, too.”

 

“Could it be he’s just having fun and forgot to check in?” Dean offered.

 

Ben spoke up for the first time since the Winchesters had entered. “He wouldn’t do that.” Dean eyed Ben who looked away from him.

 

Haley put more food on the table. “Our parents are gone.” She said clarifying her brother. “It’s just my two brothers and me. We all keep pretty close tabs on each other.”

 

Hannah looked at her siblings. “I know how that is.” Haley turned to her. “Me and my brothers are practically inseparable.”

 

Sam cleared his throat. “Can I see the pictures he sent you?”

 

Haley agreed. She grabbed the laptop from Ben and pulled up the pictures. Sam sat down in the chair while Hannah leaned over his shoulder. “That’s Tommy.” She gestured to the figure on the screen. She played the video for them.

 

“Hey Haley,” Tommy greeted enthusiastically. “day six, we’re still out near Blackwater Ridge.” As the video played on, Hannah noticed a flicker of something in the background. Her eyebrows furrowed as she leaned closer to the screen.

 

“Well, we’ll find your brother,” Dean informed the Collins siblings. “We’re heading out to Blackwater Ridge first thing.”

 

Haley turned to him. “Then maybe I’ll see you there. Look, I can’t sit around here anymore. So I hired a guy. I’m heading out in the morning, and I’m gonna find Tommy myself.” Behind Haley’s back, Hannah sent a worried look over to her Dean. It was hard enough for them to do their job. Having random civilians decide they want to join in on the action made it ten times worse.

 

“I think I know how you feel,” Dean told her. He was referring to their dad, and it was clear to Hannah that not knowing where he was, it was killing them all slowly.

 

During the entire conversation, Sam had stared at the screen where Tommy’s latest video was still pulled up. “Hey, do you mind forwarding these to me?”

 

-~\/~-

 

After leaving the Collin’s house, they traveled to the nearest bar. Around them, people played pool and waitresses carried trays of beer. At their table, the Winchester siblings sat doing research.

 

“So, Blackwater Ridge doesn’t get a lot of traffic,” Sam informed his siblings as he unloaded his stuff. “Local campers, mostly. But still, this past April, two hikers went missing out there. They were never found.” He opened Dad’s journal and reached for the newspaper clip that sat in the pocket.

 

“Any before that?”

 

Sam set the article on the table. Hannah grabbed it and pulled it closer to her, reading and listening to Sam.

 

“Yeah, in 1982, eight different people all vanished in the same year. Authorities said it was a grizzly attack.” Hannah nodded absent-mindedly, still scanning through the article on the disappearances. To her left, Sam pulled out his laptop. “And again in 1959 and again before that in 1936. Every twenty-three years, just like clockwork. Okay. Watch this. Here’s a clincher. I downloaded that guy Tommy’s video to the laptop. Check this out.” Hannah looked over at his screen along with Dean. Sam clicked through the video at a slow rate, allowing her to see more clearly what she had noticed at the Collin's house.

 

“Hold up,” she said. Hannah leaned even closer.

 

Sam clicked through again. “That’s three frames. That’s a fraction of a second. Whatever that thing is, it can move.”

 

Dean hit Sam and gave Hannah a wide smile. Sam looked up at him annoyed.

 

“Told you something weird was going on,” Dean exclaimed. He turned to Hannah. “Called it.”

 

“Technically, I’m the one who said that.” Hannah pointed out. She took a swig of her beer and wiped her mouth. Standing up, she brushed past Dean. “But sure. Right Sam?”

 

“Yeah,” he grumbled. “I got one more thing. In ‘fifty-nine one camper survived this supposed grizzly attack. Just a kid. Barely crawled out of the woods alive.”

 

Dean stared at the newspaper clip that was under Hannah’s beer. “Is there a name?”

 

-~\/~-

 

Mr. Shaw, as it turned out, didn’t live too far away. Sam, Hannah, and Dean stood in the entry of his small apartment as he smoked a cigarette. “Look, rangers, I don’t know why you’re asking me about this. It’s public record. I was a kid. My parents got mauled by a—”

 

“Grizzly bear?” Hannah finished for him, her voice skeptical. Mr. Shaw looked at her. He took a puff of his cigarette. Slowly, he nodded.

 

“The other people that went missing that year, those bear attacks too?” Dean questioned.” Mr. Shaw paused. “What about all the people that went missing this year? Same thing?” They all watched Mr. Shaw as he continued to take a drag from his cigarette. “We knew what we were dealing with, we might be able to stop it.”

 

Mr. Shaw set his cigarette down. “I seriously doubt that. Anyways, I don’t see what difference it would make.” He sat down in the old armchair. “You wouldn’t believe me. Nobody ever did.”

 

“Mr. Shaw,” Sam moved forward and sat on the edge of the mattress across from Mr. Shaw. Dean and Hannah stayed close behind, a couple feet away. “What did you see?”

 

“Nothing,” he finally admitted. “It moved too fast to see. It hid too well. I heard it, though. A roar…” Sam looked back at his brother and sister while Mr. Shaw grimaced. “Like no man or animal I ever heard.”

 

“It came at night? Got inside your tent?”

 

“It got inside our cabin.” He corrected. “I was sleeping in front of the fireplace when it came in. It didn’t smash a window or break a door. It unlocked it.” Hannah shifted and looked at her brothers equally understanding faces. “Do you know of a bear that could do something like that? I didn’t even wake up till I heard my parents screaming.”

 

“It killed them?”

 

“Dragged them off into the night.” Mr. Shaw shook his head. “Why it left me alive… been asking myself that ever since. Did leave me this, though.” Mr. Shaw pulled down his collar to reveal three long scars, raised lines, like claw marks. “There’s something evil in those woods. It was some sort of a demon.”

 

-~\/~-

 

“Spirits and demons don’t have to unlock doors.” Dean reminded them as soon as the door closed to Mr. Shaw’s apartment. They started walking back to the Impala. “If they want inside, they just go through the walls.”

 

“So it’s probably something else, something corporeal.”

 

“Corporeal?” Dean repeated in disbelief. “Excuse me, professor.”

 

“Shut up,” Sam shot. “So what do you think?”

 

Hannah pondered it. “Well, half the things we hunt have claws, are fast, and is, as Sam called it, corporeal.” Sam rolled his eyes.

 

“Which means we can kill it.” Dean pointed out.

 

They rounded the corner and through the glass doors that led outside. Sitting in the front of the parking lot was the car. Dean opened the trunk, propping it open with the usual shotgun. He grabbed a duffel bag and started filling it with guns. Hannah leaned against the car while Sam leaned in next to Dean and helped him pack. “We cannot let that Haley girl go out there,” Sam told them.

 

“Oh yeah? What are we gonna tell her?” Dean asked Sam. “That she can’t go into the woods because of a big scary monster?”

 

“There has to be something that will stop her,” Hannah said.

 

Dean turned to her. “Her brother’s missing. She’s not gonna just sit this out. Now we go with her, we protect her, and we keep our eyes peeled for our fuzzy predator friend.” Hannah nodded.

 

“Finding Dad’s not enough?” Sam slammed the weapons box shut and then the trunk. “Now we gotta babysit too?”

 

Dean stared at Sam.

 

“What?”

 

“Nothing.” Dean shook his head. He threw the duffel bag at Sam and walked away from him. Sam turned to Hannah.

 

“Later.”

 

-~\/~-

 

The next morning the three of them made their way out to meet Haley. Hannah watched Haley shake her head in disbelief as Dean drove the Impala up. They got out, Sam with the duffel bag slung over his shoulder. “You guys got room for three more?” Dean called.

 

Haley stopped. “Wait, you want to come with us?”

 

“Who are these guys?” The ranger Haley hired looked at them skeptically.

 

“Apparently this is all the park service could muster up for the search and rescue.”

 

The ranger eyed Dean up and down, taking in the worn jeans and boots. “You’re rangers?”

 

Dean nodded. “That’s right.”

 

“And you’re hiking out in biker boots and jeans?”

 

Offended, Dean looked down at his outfit. He turned back to Haley. “Well, sweetheart, I don’t do shorts.”

 

“What, you think this is funny?” The ranger got angry. “It’s dangerous backcountry out there. Her brother might be hurt.”

 

Hannah stepped forward. “Trust me, I think we have it handled. We’re gonna find her brother and get him home.”

 

The tension in the group was so thick, one could’ve cut it with a knife. Hannah didn’t let it bother her. She just forged ahead with the ranger, whose name turned out to be Roy. The forest around her was quiet. She would’ve found it peaceful except for the fact that somewhere in those woods, a creature was lurking with Haley’s brother. Behind her was Dean, Haley, Ben, and then Sam. Hannah turned back to Roy who had just finished telling her about a hunting story. “You hunt?”

 

Hannah nodded. “Yeah. Me and my brothers go every once in a while.” She lied. “What do you hunt?”

 

“Mostly buck, sometimes bear.”

 

Dean walked passed Roy, taking the lead of the group. “Tell me, uh, Bambi or Yogi ever hunt you back?” Roy grabbed the back of Dean’s shirt and yanked him back. Sam and Hannah went on alert. “Whatcha doing, Roy?” Dean asked. There was an edge of danger to his tone.

 

Roy grabbed a stick from off the ground and stabbed it into the ground, triggering a bear trap. Hannah pressed her lips into a thin line. “You should watch where you’re stepping… ranger.” Roy dropped the stick and walked on, retaking the lead.

 

“It’s a bear trap.” Dean chuckled as he told the rest of the group. They hiked on, Dean slightly more cautious. Haley caught up to Dean.

 

“You didn’t pack any provisions. You guys are carrying a _duffel_ bag. You’re not rangers.” She grabbed his arm. “So who the hell are you?”

 

Dean glanced around. He nodded for the others to go on. Sam and Hannah walked on, Hannah keeping an ear out in case Dean needed backup.

 

She could hear Dean explaining how they were just three siblings looking for their father. Taking a look around, Hannah realized that the chances of actually finding their father here were slim. With a sigh and shake of her head, Hannah wondered if this was just a wild goose chase, or if her father had something planned.

 

-~\/~-

 

“This is it,” Roy announced after an hour of hiking. “Blackwater Ridge.”

 

Hannah stopped to grab a bottle of water that she’d been smart enough to bring. She drank half of it. Her forehead was beaded with sweat. Haley was right about one thing, she thought. No one should hike in jeans.

 

Sam walked on past Roy who had stepped off to the side. “What coordinates are we at?”

 

Roy reached into his pocket and pulled out a GPS. “Thirty-five and minus one-eleven.”

 

Hannah and Dean walked up to stand on either side of Sam. “You hear that?” Dean asked.

 

“Yup.” Hannah understood what her brother meant.

 

“Not even crickets.” Sam finished for her.

 

The area around them was silent except for the crunching of leaves as the rest of the group moved on behind them. The eerie was unnerving. Hannah couldn’t imagine her father being out here. She felt frustration build up in her.

 

Was this just some wild goose chase?

 

“I’m gonna go take a look around.”

 

Hannah broke out of her thoughts and whirled around. “Not without a partner.” Roy stared at her. “Not safe.”

 

Roy chuckled. “That’s sweet. Don’t worry about me.” He waved his gun as if to remind them that he would be perfectly fine. Hannah wanted to grab her own gun from her waistband and wave it in his face. He pushed between the Winchester siblings.

 

“All right,” Dean spoke up. “Everybody stays together. Let’s go.”

 

They trudged on again. It wasn’t long before Roy called from up ahead. “Haley! Over here!”

 

Haley took off, followed closely by the rest of the group. Hannah watched as Haley came to a halt. The campsite that Roy had found was gruesome; supplies scattered all around and the tents ripped open, the torn edges fluttering in the breeze. Upon closer look, Hannah realized that blood covered the tents.

 

“Looks like a grizzly,” Roy commented.

 

Haley looked around. “Tommy?” She threw off her backpack and ran through the campsite. “Tommy!”

 

Sam ran forward to catch up with the panicked girl. “Shh.”

 

“Tommy!”

 

“Shh-hh-hh!” Sam gently grabbed her elbow and pulled her back towards the group.

 

“Why?”

 

“Something might still be out there.” He explained. Haley looked at the trees, searching for some unknown threat.

 

“Sam!”

 

Dean was crouched next to something in the dirt. He had a stick in his hand and was using it to point at the dirt tracks. Hannah was next to him. She had John’s journal in her hands`, flicking through the pages. Sam walked over and crouched next to them.

 

“The bodies were dragged from the campsite. But here, the tracks just vanish. That’s weird.” The siblings stood up. “I’ll tell you what, that’s no skinwalker or black dog.”

 

Hannah nodded. “You’re right.” She flipped the journal around, showing the page she had been reading.

 

“Wendigo’s?” Dean asked in disbelief. “Oh come on, wendigos are in Minnesota woods or, or northern Michigan. I’ve never even heard of one this far west.”

 

“Well come up with something better,” Hannah told Dean.

 

Haley bent down to pick up a small object; Tom’s bloody phone. She cried as she turned it over in her hand. Dean wrapped his arm around her. “Hey, he could still be alive.” Dean tried to comfort the crying girl. He knew Sam would be better, he was always sympathetic and finding hope even when things got really bad.

 

The quiet moment was disrupted by a scream.

 

“Help! Help!”

 

Everyone was up and moving. Roy was ahead of everyone else as they ran to aid the shouter. Hannah pulled her gun out, keeping the safety on for the moment.

 

“Help! Somebody!”

 

They crashed through bushes, coming into a smaller clearing. Hannah’s head spun as she looked for any sign of someone. Everything was still—too still for her liking.

 

“It seemed like it was coming from around here, didn’t it?” Haley said.

 

They listened for another moment.

 

“Get back to camp. Now!” Hannah shouted.

 

The group ran back to the campsite only to find it destroyed. The backpacks were shredded and strewn all over the ground.

 

“Our packs!” Haley shouted.

 

“So much for my GPS and my satellite phone.”

 

Haley turned to Dean. “What the hell is going on?”

 

“It’s isolating us,” Hannah said. “Cutting us off so we can’t leave.”

 

Roy stomped forward towards her. “You mean someone, some nutjob out there just stole all our gear.”

 

Sam walked towards Hannah. “I need to speak with you and Dean. In private.”

 

Hannah nodded. She gestured Dean over, who looked glad to get away from Haley’s questioning gaze. “What’s up?”

 

“Hannah was right,” Sam stated. “You got the claws, the impressive speed, the way it can mimic a human voice,” he listed off.

 

“Wait…” Hannah held up her hand. “Are you saying that it’s a Wendigo?” Sam nodded. Instead of feeling happy that she was right, she felt a slight moment of panic. “Shit.” She showed off her gun. “This is useless.”

 

“How are we gonna kill it?”

 

“We’ll figure that out later,” Sam said. “First we gotta get these people to safety.” He took off for the campsite. “All right, listen up, it’s time to go. Things have gotten….more complicated.”

 

“What?” Haley asked.

 

“Kid, don’t worry.” Roy brushed his concern off. “Whatever’s out there, I think I can handle it.”

 

“It’s not me I’m worried about. If you shoot this thing, you’re just gonna make it mad. We have to leave.” Sam repeated a little more forcefully. “Now.”

 

“One, you’re talking nonsense.” Roy started listing. “Two, you’re in no position to give anybody orders.”

 

Dean stepped forward between the two. “Relax.”

 

But the two kept on flighting. “We never should’ve let you come out here in the first place, all right?” Sam told him. “I’m trying to protect you.”

 

Roy stepped forward right into Sam’s space. Sam stood a good head taller than the ranger. “ _You_ protect me?” Roy scoffed. “ I was hunting these woods when you’re mommy was still kissing you goodnight.”

 

Hannah waited for Sam to make his next move. She knew the comment about Mary would make him mad, and the ranger would suddenly find that he would have a very big problem.

 

“Yeah? It’s a damn near perfect hunter.” Sam smiled. “It’s smarter than you, and it’s gonna hunt you down and eat you alive unless we get your stupid sorry ass out of here.”

 

Roy laughed. “You know you’re crazy, right?”

 

“Yeah? You ever hunt a wen—”

 

Hannah pulled Sam back from Roy.  Haley called for them to stop fighting.

 

“Stop. Stop it.” She told everyone. “Everybody just stop. Look. Tommy might still be alive. And I’m not leaving here without him.”

 

There was a pause as everyone came back to their senses and calmed down. Dean looked at the sky. “It’s getting late. This thing is a good hunter in the day, but an unbelievable hunter at night. We’ll never beat it, not in the dark. We need to settle in and protect ourselves.”

 

-~\/~-

 

It wasn’t too long later that they had a fire up and going. Haley and Ben sat around it warming themselves while Dean walked around the perimeter checking the protection symbols. Haley looked over curiously as he drew another one in the dirt by the fire.

 

“One more time, that’s—”

 

“Anasazi symbols,” Dean reminded her. “It’s for protection. The wendigo can’t cross over them.” Roy laughed at him from the tree he had taken to leaning against. “Nobody likes a skeptic, Roy.”

 

Dean finished the symbol and looked over at where Sam and Hannah were sitting, bodies tilted away from camp as they talked. The mood seemed somber. Neither of them were smiling, just talking with their voices low.

 

He made his way to the edge of the camp where they had decided to sit. “You wanna tell me what’s going on in those freaky heads of yours?”

 

“Dean—”

 

“Uh, uh.” Dean stopped Sam. “Remember what we said yesterday? No lying.” Dean locked eyes with Hannah before turning back to Sam. “You’re like a powder keg, man, it’s not like you. I’m supposed to be the belligerent one, remember?”

 

There was a long pause, where Dean waited for an answer from Sam. “Dad’s not here. I mean, that much we know for sure, right? He would have left us a message, a sign, right?”

 

“I was thinking about this earlier,” Hannah said. “Truth be told, I don’t think Dad’s here. I don’t think he’s _ever_ been here.” She sighed.

 

“Then let’s get these people back to town and let’s hit the road.” Sam proposed to his older siblings. “Go find Dad. I mean, why are we even still here?”

 

“He sent us here for some reason. I just can’t figure out what that reason is.” Hannah said.

 

“This is why.” Dean pulled out their dad’s journal. “This book. This is Dad’s most valuable possession—everything he knows about every evil thing is in here. And he’s passed it on to us. I think he wants us to pick up where he left off. You know, saving people, hunting things. The family business.”

 

Hannah shook her head. “I wish he would call us. Why can’t he just pick up the phone and at least tell us he’s okay? It’s so, so, _frustrating._ ” She groaned.

 

Dean shrugged his shoulders. “I dunno. But the way I see it, Dad’s giving us a job to do, and I intend to do it.”

 

“Dean…no,” Sam told him. “I gotta find Dad. I gotta find Jessica’s killer. It’s the only thing I can think about.”

 

Hannah could hear the desperation in Sam’s voice. The pleading. She imagined that her father had felt the same way right after their mom died. “Sam,” she said softly. “We’ll find the thing.” She promised him. Hannah remembered when Sam was only five and asking for Hannah to promise to help him with his reading. His eyes had been so full of life back then. Right now, they seemed dull and void.

 

Hannah hated it.

 

Dean placed his hand on Sam’s shoulder. “Listen to me. You’ve gotta prepare yourself. I mean, this search could take a while, and all that anger, you can’t keep it burning over the long haul. It’s gonna kill you. You gotta have patience, man.”

 

Sam looked up at them. “How do you two do it? How does Dad do it?”

 

“Dad drinks himself to sleep half the nights.” Hannah reminded Sam. “And we… well, it helps, knowing that even if our family is so screwed over, others don’t have to be.” She shrugged. “It’s a little comforting to know that you are helping. Takes some weight off your shoulders.”

 

There was a long pause as Sam soaked up what she said. He remembered the nights that Dad would come stumbling and tripping, smelling like a bar. Sam knew he couldn’t become that kind of man. Jess would’ve hated him. He would hate himself.

 

“I’ll tell you what else helps,” Dean spoke up. “Killing as many evil sons of bitches as I possibly can.”

 

Sam smiled, and for a second, everything seemed kinda okay to Hannah.

 

“Help me! Please!”

 

Everyone was on their feet. Hannah reached for her gun, seeing Dean do the same.

 

“Help!”

 

Sam shone a flashlight around, trying to catch a glimpse of the Wendigo lurking around.

 

“He’s trying to draw us out,” Dean informed the group. “Just stay cool, stay put.”

 

“Inside the magic circle?” Roy asked.

 

“Help! Help me!”

 

Hannah heard a loud growl, like a demon screaming.

 

Roy raised his gun and aimed into the forest where the growl had come from. “Okay, that’s no grizzly.”

 

Haley was whispering to Ben. “It’s okay. You’ll be alright, I promise.” She stood in front of him to protect him from anything that might burst through the bushes.

 

The wendigo ran around the campsite, too fast to see but everyone could hear its growl as it ran close to Haley and Ben. They shrieked and came closer to the center of the camp.

 

“It’s here,” Sam said.

 

The wendigo ran by again. Roy aimed his gun at the rustling leaves and took a shot. When the wendigo ran behind them, he quickly turned around fired off two more shots. The wendigo cried out as one of Roy’s bullet’s hit it.

 

“I hit it!” He shouted before running off to go see what he had hit.

 

“Roy!” Hannah called after him, chasing the ranger. “Roy, stop! Roy!” She ran after him, following the trail of bushes that swayed in Roy’s wake.

 

“It’s over here!” he shouted. “It’s in the tree!”

 

Hannah burst into the clearing, expecting to see Roy aiming his gun up the tree. Instead, the area was clear. She went on alert. Bushes rustled behind her and she swung her gun up, preparing to shoot only to be met with her brother’s faces. She quickly lowered her gun. Sam moved the flashlight around, looking for any sign of Roy.

 

But he was gone.

 

-~\/~-

 

The next morning, the group was in a somber mood.

 

“I don’t” Haley stuttered as she tried to comprehend what had fully happened the night before. “…I mean, these types of things, they aren’t supposed to be real.”

 

“I wish I could tell you different,” Dean said.

 

“How do we know it’s not out there watching us?”

 

“We don’t. But we’re safe for now.”

 

Haley looked up at him. “How do you know about this stuff?”

 

Dean paused. “Kind of runs in the family.” He said eventually.

 

Hannah sat on the forest floor, stuck in her own head. It had been so long for her since someone under her watch had died on a hunt. Their job was to keep normal people safe from this kinda stuff. They had a life to get back to, jobs to do, people to see.

 

Sam walked over towards the group. “Hey.” Hannah turned her head towards him. “So we got half a chance in the daylight. And I for one want to kill this evil son of a bitch.”

 

“Well, hell,” Dean joined. “You know I’m in.”

 

Hannah stood up and walked towards her brothers. “It’s almost like you read my mind.”

 

Sam smiled and took out their Dad’s journal, opened to the page about Wendigo’s. He showed it to Haley and Ben who stared at the First Nations-style drawing. “Wendigo is a Cree Indian word. It means ‘evil that devours’.”

 

“They’re hundreds of years old. Each one was once a man.” Dean told the two. “Sometimes an Indian, or other times a frontiersman or a miner or hunter.”

 

Haley looked disgusted. “How’s a man turn into one of those things?”

 

“Cannibalism,” Hannah said. “You find yourself starving and cut off from any food, you start doing anything you can to survive. Including eating other members of your group.”

 

“Like the Donner Party.” Ben surmised.

 

“Cultures all over the world believe that eating human flesh gives a person certain abilities. Speed, strength, immortality,” Sam listed.

 

“And it's true. The more you eat, the less human you become and the more monstrous.” Hannah said with a grim look on her face. “Wendigos are constantly starving.”

 

Haley looked at her. “So if that’s true, how can Tommy still be alive?”

 

The Winchester’s shared a look of ‘ _I wouldn’t do it_ ’ with each other.

 

“You’re not gonna like it,” Dean told her.

 

“Tell me.”

 

Dean sighed. “More than anything, a wendigo knows how to last long winters without food. It hibernates for years at a time, but when it’s awake it keeps its victims alive. It, uh, it stores them, so it can feed whenever it wants. If your brother’s alive, it’s keeping him somewhere dark, hidden, and safe. We gotta track it back there.”

 

“And then how do we stop it?”

 

“Well, guns are useless, so are knives. Basically—” Dean held up the can of lighter fluid he’d been messing with, and the white cloth he’d picked up. “—We gotta torch the sucker.”

 

After a little while, they headed into the forest. Dean led the group. Haley was close behind him, followed by Ben, while Sam and Hannah took the rear. In the daylight, it was easier to see the area surrounding them. The trees had claw marks scratched on them. Dean followed the trail of claws leading them deeper and deeper into the forest. 

 

“Hannah. Dean.”

 

Hannah headed over to Sam whose was looking up into the trees. She followed his gaze. There were claw marks everywhere, each so clear and visible even from twenty feet below.

 

“You know, I was thinking,” Sam said, his voice low. “those claw prints, so clear and distinct.” He chuckled. “They were almost too easy to follow.”

 

The realization dawned on Hannah too late.

 

Trees rustled as the Wendigo ran past them, growling. Haley, startled, backed into a tree. Something dripped on her shoulder. She slowly looked up before screaming and jumping out of the way as something large fell from the tree.

 

The large something turned out to be Roy’s body.

 

Sam went over to help Haley up who had fallen in her hurry while Hannah went to go check out Roy. Dean raised his Molotov cocktail.

 

Hannah lifted his head and realized that his neck was broken. “He broke his neck.”

 

Sam helped Haley onto her feet as Hannah stood back up. The wendigo growled again, sounding much closer.

 

“Okay, run, run, run, run, go, go, go!” Dean shouted.

 

The group took off. They weaved between the trees and jumped over roots. Hannah saw out of the corner of her eye as Ben came around a corner and fell. She turned around and ran towards him.

 

“Come on, get up, you’re fine.”

 

Hannah and Ben kept running, now separated from the rest of the group. They heard Haley’s scream.

 

“Haley?”

 

They stopped running, looking for any sign of the other three. Hannah noticed a part of a broken bottle that had been part of Dean’s Molotov cocktail.

 

“Oh shit.” She rapidly turned around, looking for her brothers. “Sam! Dean!”

 

Ben came up behind her. “If it keeps its victims alive, why would it kill Roy?”

 

Hannah heard the fear in his voice, and she realized why he was asking. “Don’t worry. They’ll be fine. Roy shot it, so naturally it was mad.”

 

Ben nodded. He wandered off a little, leaving Hannah to worry about how to find her brothers. She had to think, where could a wendigo store people and wait out for years?

 

“The mines!”

 

“They went this way!”

 

Hannah and Ben shouted at the same time. They looked at each other. Hannah ran over to him and saw the trail of M&M’s leading west. She laughed. “This is the only time I’ll thank Dean for his eating habits.”

 

They followed the trail off M&M’s for a half-hour before they reached the entrance to a mine that had been marked off with several signs that said WARNING! DANGER!  DO NOT ENTER EXTREMELY TOXIC MATERIAL and KEEP OUT NO ADMITTANCE. Hannah paid the signs to attention and squeezed her way in. Ben paused, looking at the signs before deciding to follow Hannah.

 

Hannah could see the appeal of the mines, and if she had been a monster herself, she would’ve chosen something exactly like this. Dark, spacious, and hidden very well from any humans. They walked along an old rail track. Hannah took out a flashlight and shined it up ahead.

 

She heard a growling sound and within a second, she had turned the flashlight off and was pulling Ben into the shadowy wall. The wendigo passed them, heading towards the exit of the mine. Ben saw the outline of the Wendigo and whimpered. Hannah pressed her hand against his mouth before he could make another sound.

 

Once the wendigo was gone, Hannah peeled herself from the wall and together they hurried down the tunnel in the direction that the wendigo had come from. It was a little farther down before the floor beneath them turned from dirt to wood, creaking under their feet.

 

 When Hannah had been at the Collins’ house and on their porch, she had thought the wood would break under them. This time it did.

 

Hannah hit the ground, landing on her side. She coughed, feeling a new pain bloom from her shoulder as something sharp pushed it. As the dust started to settle, she noticed that it wasn’t a rock like she had thought, but a human bone.

 

She pushed herself up. They had landed in a huge pile of human bones. Ben looked at the skull he had landed next to and jumped away, bumping into Hannah. She steadied him. “Hey, don’t worry. Don’t worry.”

 

Hannah pushed him up. The wood creaked overhead, and Hannah went still. Slowly, she turned to leave when she saw them.

 

Hanging from the ceiling was Dean, Sam, and Haley. She rushed over to them. Hannah felt partial victory at having found where her brothers were. Now all she needed was to get them out.

 

She shook them, trying to wake them. “Sam! Dean!” Hannah could hear Ben waking Haley up. “Sam!”

 

Sam’s eyes opened, and he blinked, trying to look at her. “Hannah?”

 

“Someone had to be the knight in shining armor to rescue you two damsels in distress.”

 

Dean’s eyes fluttered open. Hannah turned to him. “Hey, you guys okay?”

 

Dean winced. “Yeah.”

 

“Been better.”

 

Hannah took out her knife and started cutting at the ropes. She helped Dean down first, then Sam. She took one arm from both boys and slung them over her shoulders, aiding them across the room. They made pained grunts and sighs that made Hannah wince. “You guys sure you’re all right?”

 

Sam nodded while Dean said, “Yeah. Yep. Where is he?”

 

“Just left.”

 

Hannah heard a cry and turned around. Haley was standing in front of who she assumed to be Tommy. He looked dead, something that didn’t reassure her. “Tommy,” Haley cried. She reached out to touch his cheek. As soon as she touched him, Tom’s head jerked up. Haley jumped back and shrieked, turning to Hannah. “Cut him down!”

 

Hannah rushed over with her knife and started cutting. Haley caught Tommy as he came down. “We’re gonna get you home,” she told him gently.

 

Dean looked over next to him. He beckoned Sam over. “Check it out.” In the corner were all their stolen supplies stashed in a pile. There were supplies that weren’t their too, left over from previous victims. Included in that pile were—

 

“Flare guns.” Sam grinned. “Those’ll work.”

 

Dean laughed as he twirled the gun. He handed one to Sam and pocketed one for himself and Hannah before standing up. He wandered over to the rest of the group, where Haley and Hannah were supporting Tom, Ben just behind them. Dean handed her a flare gun and then they began making their exit.

 

A growl echoed through the mine.

 

“Looks like someone’s home for supper,” Dean commented.

 

“We’ll never outrun it.”

 

Dean looked back at the others. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

 

Sam nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”

 

“Let’s do this then,” Hannah motioned Ben over and swapped spots with him. “I’m gonna get you guys outta here.” She nodded at her brothers. “See you on the other side.”

 

“Wait, what are you two gonna do?” Haley asked.

 

Dean winked at her before walking away. “Chow time, you freaky bastard!” He shouted. “Yeah, that’s right, bring it on, baby,  I taste _good!_ ”

 

Hannah laughed. “Have fun with him,” she told Sam. “And stay safe.” Sam nodded and followed after Dean. After they were gone, Hannah turned back the Collins. “Okay, now let’s go. Hurry!”

 

They ran down the tunnels as best they could, with Haley and Ben practically carrying Tom who was limping pretty bad. Hannah heard a growl come from the tunnel to their left. She aimed her gun down the tunnel. “Get outa here.” She told them over her shoulder.

 

“What?” Haley asked. “No.”

 

“Go!”

 

“Come on, Haley!” Ben tugged them down the opposite tunnel. Hannah slowly inched closer towards the dark tunnel.

 

“Let’s go you bastard.” She muttered, waiting for it. After a few seconds, she heard another growl… right beside her.

 

She turned and shot at the Wendigo. It lurched out of the way and the flare hit the rocks. Hannah cursed and ran down the tunnel towards the Collins’. They looked back at her when they heard her footsteps.

 

“Run!” she shouted. They jumped a little when she shouted, but started running when they saw the wendigo behind Hannah. The tunnel ended, cornering the group. Hannah stood in front of them. The wendigo walked towards them, knowing they were trapped.

 

“Hey!”

 

Dean and Sam stood at the end of the tunnel with their flare guns up. Sam fired at the flare hit the wendigo in the stomach. It burst, sending the wendigo into flames. Hannah looked up from the dead monster to her brothers.

 

“Not bad, huh?” Dean asked.

 

“Timing was a bit off.” Hannah grinned. “Come on, let’s get outta here.”

 

-~\/~-

 

They had made it out of the forest. An ambulance was loading Tom, preparing to take him to the hospital. Hannah was getting checked by the other ambulance. Ben and Sam were getting interviewed by two police officers.

 

“And the bear came back again after you yelled at it?” An officer asked.

 

“That’s when it circled the campsite,” Ben told. “I mean, this grizzly must have weighed eight hundred, nine hundred pounds.” Sam nodded along.

 

The officer closed his notebook. “All right, we’ll go after it first thing.”

 

Meanwhile, Haley was talking to Dean. “So I don’t know how to thank you,” Dean smirked at her. Haley smiled at him. “Must you cheapen the moment?”

 

“Yeah,” Dean said like it was obvious.

 

A paramedic came up to them. “You riding with your brother?” They asked Haley.

 

“Yeah.” Haley turned to Ben. “Let’s go.”

 

Hannah wandered over. She gave a small wave to Ben, who nodded his head at her. Haley gave Dean a kiss on the cheek. “I hope you find your father,” she told him.

 

Then they were gone, hopping into the back of the ambulance were Tom was waiting, heavily bandaged. The Winchesters headed over to the Impala. Sam sat on the hood with Hannah while Dean stood in front of them. “Man, I hate camping,” Dean remarked after the ambulance had driven off.

 

“Me too,” Hannah agreed.

 

“Me three.”

 

They sat for a little while. Eventually, Dean spoke back up. “You know we’re gonna find Dad, right?”

 

“Yeah, I know.” Sam smiled. “But in the meantime? I’m driving.”

 

“Shotgun,” Hannah called. Dean shook his head, smiling. He tossed Sam the keys and they gathered in the car.

 

“Man, how do you do this?” Dean complained. “So small…”

 

Sam off down the road. Hannah didn’t know exactly where they were going, or what the plan would be for tomorrow, but she did know one thing.

 

They had to find Dad.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you guys enjoy this chapter, I tried to make Hannah stand out a little more. I'm not exactly happy with how the last chapter turned out but once I finish the story I'll go back and edit chapters. I'm actually looking for a beta so if you'd be interested, please hit me up.
> 
> I'll see you all soon!

**Author's Note:**

> So I actually found this in my files. I did this like a year ago and then forgot about it and I actually have quite a bit done so these can come out for a little while. School is going on so keep that in mind.
> 
> Hope to see you again soon!


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